APPROVED CHAPTER
JUNE 28, 2023 89
BY GOVERNOR RESOLVES
STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE
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S.P. 185 - L.D. 404
Resolve, to Direct the Department of Transportation to Implement the
Recommendations of the Mountain Division Rail Use Advisory Council
Preamble. Whereas, the State Railroad Preservation and Assistance Act requires
the Department of Transportation to seek legislative approval for any conversion of a state-
owned rail corridor in which the department controls the right-of-way to a nonrail
recreational or nonrecreational transportation use; and
Whereas, Resolve 2021, chapter 52 directed the department to establish a rail corridor
use advisory council to review the Mountain Division Line for potential nonrail use; and
Whereas, the Mountain Division Rail Use Advisory Council convened and met for 7
months during 2021 and 2022; and
Whereas, the 12-member Mountain Division Rail Use Advisory Council voted 11-1
to recommend the interim conversion of 31 miles of existing railroad track to a 10-foot-
wide paved bicycle and pedestrian trail; and
Whereas, the State Railroad Preservation and Assistance Act further requires that
once the Commissioner of Transportation receives a report from a rail corridor use advisory
council that includes a recommendation of track removal or other change for interim
nonrail use and the commissioner concurs with the recommendation, the commissioner
shall seek legislative approval of the recommendation by submitting legislation to the joint
standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over transportation matters prior
to track removal or other change for nonrail use; and
Whereas, any track removal or other change for nonrail use is considered interim in
nature and rail corridors are to be preserved for future rail use as provided under the State
Railroad Preservation and Assistance Act; now, therefore, be it
Sec. 1. Trail construction on Mountain Division Line. Resolved: That, based
on the recommendation of the Mountain Division Rail Use Advisory Council and pursuant
to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 23, section 7107, the Department of Transportation
shall, subject to available funding resources, permitting and municipal agreements, remove
31 miles of state-owned inactive existing railroad track between the Town of Standish and
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the Town of Fryeburg and replace the track with an interim 10-foot-wide bicycle and
pedestrian trail, surfaced with either pavement or stone dust on the existing rail bed.
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